PPU brass

[gary55]

I did search and found little info on this topic. I recently started shooting 308 again and bought some PPU because it's cheap and to get familiar with the rifle. I'm very new to reloading. Loaded my first 30 rounds for 6.8mm Sunday staggered at .5 grains of powder. Once I get better tooling, confidence, and experience, I'll start loading 308 for distance. My buddy tells me PPU is soft brass and necks lack consistency. Is PPU brass decent to reload or should I move on to something better right out of the gate?

 

[spife7980]

I know Greg Langelius * shoots the PPU, he might share some of his insights. I think he likes it.

 

[twill45]

I shoot PPU brass through my .243. It is soft and only makes it 5 or so firings but I normally lose/toss it by that point anyways. For the price, I don't mind the short life.

 

[MarinePMI]

I shoot .308 PPU brass as well as .223. The .223 stuff is excellent. The .308 tends to be somewhat soft, but has extremely tight primer pockets. As an aside, I used it to form 6.5CM when the CM brass was made of unobtainium. I say this because I had to turn necks, so can't speak to the neck thickness (I didn't notice a lot of variation when turning them though). I will say this, that brass shot better than the Hornady factory brass. But again, it was neck turned, so that may have made a difference.

I shot a few (50rds) of it as .308 and saw no noticeable lack of quality, but that was a small sampling, so YMMV...

 

[dryfire]

I've ran some 7mm-08 Rem. in PPU. Performs as well as Norma in my rifle. Only on the 2nd reloading with the brass though.


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[Juggerxxx]

Decent success with the 223 brass I use for PDog killing. Grouped fairly well during load development after neck turning and annealing after every shooting. I came across 1000 rounds on the ground at the range one day and thought what the hell. Is it Lapua or Norma, NO; but happy I gave it a shot.

 

[Deleted member 10043]

It is my go to brass for .308 and 25-06. They do need deburred. 308 last about about 15 reloads with no annealing. Necks eventually crack. '06 I can go up to ten times. These are at normal MV no where near the envelope. That helps a bunch.

 

[gary55]

I'm hearing nothing negative about it so I'll keep and load it. Thanks guys.

 

[black5.3]

I went through 300-400 ppu cases in my 30-06 and it was ok for what it was but i have recently started shooting lapua brass and there is definitely a difference in quality and performance, at least for me. The ppu brass' primer pockets would let go after about 4-5 reloadings.

 

[Citius7]

It's pretty darn awesome stuff. Has good pedigree to it.

 

[BulletGuide]

I've got 4 or 5 reloads on some PPU brass, no primer pocket issues, case necks are fine, it's my go-to civilian brass, compares pretty well with LC in my experience. FC is the one that loses primer
pockets the quickest for me. I've done some volume and weight comparisons between PPU and LC and they are closer than you'd think.

 

[DaveinCO]

I agree that it is closer to mil 7.62 than commercial .308. I had some and it shot fine for practice ammo but i got tired of keeping track of 2 loads for .308 so i scrapped it. I didn't do a lot of testing on it but I had to load about .5 gr less than my standard or i would get sticky bolt lift and cratered primers. I would not use a load worked up with other brass without testing. Just my $.02

 

[scatterbrains]

I have 4 loads on some in my ar708, has worked well. All virgin

 

[Lucky Se7en]

I'm currently on 7 reloads with some of my PPU brass. I'm getting a standard deviation of 12 with my muzzle velocity typically without going through load development that is too intense. At 7 reloads I am keeping a close eye on case head separation for the brass which has been FL sized back down to SAAMI specs, the neck sized cases seem to be doing fine. No loose primer pockets yet but I have been getting sticky bolt lifts with mild loads. Not sure if it is because of the brass, I still have to figure out what is causing it but it may be wise to look for pressure signs early based on my experience and the post a few above mine. From what I understand the brass is different between standard and match PPU ammo, I have only shot the match ammo. I have deburred the flash holes and uniformed the primer pockets.

 

[gary55]

From what I understand the brass is different between standard and match PPU ammo

I would not have expected the brass to be different. In fact I would have thought that would be the one constant. Is there any evidence of this? I have been collecting regular PPU brass. Thought about buying some match but what's the point, I want to load my own.

 

[Lucky Se7en]

If you have the brass check to make sure it doesn't have crimped and sealed primers, I'd be interested to confirm that ammo other than their match ammo doesn't.

 

[gary55]

7, no crimp and no sealant, I bet the match brass is the same but now I'm debating getting a box just to see

 

[Deleted member 10043]

There hunting ammo is packed together the same as the match ammo. Actually, I think their brass used for hunting ammo is not as good as buying the PPU brass by itself. I only use the leftover hunting brass to replace a shell that has gone kaput in a batch that still has some rounds left to reload.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I use the .223 brass, have made most of my reloads from the 55gr FMJ ammo brass for years now. Seems indistinguishable on the target from their match ammo brass.

I don't do any brass prep beyond F/L resizing using a standard RCBS 2-die set, and my handloading regimen is just the basics done with reasonable care, but nothing anal. My accuracy requirements are not stringent. My rifles all have SAAMI chambers and I do not make any measurements or efforts regarding concentricity. I shoot the same handloads whatever I'm shooting; bulk HDY 55gr FMJ for 100yd, HDY 75gr HPBT-Match for beyond, all loaded to magazine length, no frills beyond CCI BR Primers.

I have some PPU .308 reloading brass from Midway, have loaded up some 178gr ELD-X, am waiting for the wildfires to end and the daily temps to come down below 100 to try them. I expect they will work fine.

I've been handloading since the early 90's and have investigated just about every reloading strategy I could afford. They all have some effect, usually beneficial, but a lot of the strategies taken together tend to even each other out. Yes, they work, but I tend to just skip to the chase, stick to the most basic reloading steps, and leave the rest to the gods. I do well enough to smile from time to time; at my age, every smile is good.

Greg

 

[biffj]

I've been running the Privi Partizan brass in my 338 Lapua Mag and the 7.5 X 55 Swiss rifles. I run the 250 gr Matchkings in the Lapua using 96.5 gr of IMR 5010. I've gotten 7 loads out of many of the cases and have yet to have any failures. Groups are half inch or less.
With the Swiss round I've run about 80 of the cases through my PE 57 rifle and K31 rifles and had good accuracy and life. I'm up to 5 loadings so far and still going. Now I'm running the same cases in my bolt action Desert Tactical rifle and getting really good accuracy. Right around half inch so far. I have a lot of new brass for this rifle too so we'll see how it does. I think the PPU brass is good quality stuff. I've been pleased so far.

Frank

 

[dgheriani]

I've run 300 PPU .308 cases in what was my match rifle last year and is now my backup. It's all on it's 8th firing and no issues, primer pockets still tight. Shoulders bumped back .002 and neck sized with a Le collet die. Annealed every 3rd firing. We shall see how long it lasts but so far, zero issues.